Proper training of personnel is paramount to health, safety and regulatory compliance within the petroleum industry. Numbers from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration indicated out of the roughly estimated 234,400 people employed in industry support roles, one out of every 149 employees will experience a severe injury, with the petroleum industry ranking No. 1 on the severe injury rate listing. Likewise, investigations of possible regulatory violations and the fees associated with determined violations have cost the industry nearly $2.5 trillion annually.

Digital Intelligence Systems LLC (DISYS), while working with numerous global energy clients over many years, developed and executed its Work Safe program. The program contains updated health and safety processes, consultant safety training and standards and safety claims management.

Ragan Shawell, managing director of DISYS’ Energy Services Group, said, “Health and safety training takes up valuable time and resources. So we decided to alleviate our clients’ training burdens associated with new hires.”

Understanding location risks

DISYS recognizes some client locations present greater risks than others. The company performs hazard assessments to identify a location’s particular workplace safety and security issues and whether there are additional safety policies and procedures that need to be added to the training.

“As with most processes, safety policies and procedures evolve as new risks are discovered,” Shawell said. “DISYS has designed this program to carve out very specific guidelines but also is flexible enough to adapt to the safety vulnerabilities of a specific geographic location or set of environmental circumstances.”

To identify additional needs, verify compliance of current safety policies and to answer team member questions, a safety lead person is assigned and held responsible for the implementation and compliance of all policies. This lead person is accountable for safety compliance and verifiable metrics and meaningful criteria like incident rates and violations. The Work Safe program includes several components.

Safe-performance assessments. These assessments enable onsite workers to take responsibility for their own safety and health at the workplace. They require individuals to continually evaluate work habits and use critical skills to assess and anticipate what could go wrong; analyze if they possess the right training, tools and experience to complete the task resulting in a safe and secure outcome; and act on all information provided by the company or the client to ensure safe operations at all times.

Job safety analysis. A collective group performs this process to integrate the safety and health policies of the client and those of DISYS into a particular task. In a job safety analysis, each task is looked at critically to expose and anticipate potential hazards and recommend the safest way to do the job.

Because this assessment is conducted by a team of individuals, the task is looked at from multiple viewpoints. This allows a more thorough analysis. The methodology behind the job safety analysis is based on an integral part of every job and not a separate entity.

Loss prevention observation. This observation uses many of the same standards outlined in the job safety analysis. However, it reinforces positive behaviors while findings such as near-losses and losses are identified and recorded. Regardless of incident severity, the observation allows changes to be made to further safety practices.

Root analysis. This investigative review dives into personal, job and external factors associated with prospective loss or actual loss.

Employee responsibility. Through the Work Safe program, DISYS employees and consultants working at a client’s site are taught how to react in varying degrees of workplace mishaps. Individuals are taught how to assess each situation and take the appropriate response. They are then versed in how to report the incident in a timely manner.

Stewardship and lessons learned. A culmination of all of the above, stewardship and lessons learned compiles quality reviews, stewardship metrics, safe-performance assessment conversions, and verification and validation solutions.

Case studies

DISYS has deployed its Work Safe program across multiple client engagements and has seen verifiable results.

In one example, while moving an international oil and gas client’s 12,000 employees and 32 U.S.-based offices to new locations, DISYS reported a low 1% incident rate. Estimated attrition for this project was estimated at 35% before it started, but the company came in under that estimation at 24%, resulting in nearly a $500,000 savings for the client.

In another project, DISYS led a 25-person team in an extensive drilling management and communications support project on the Alaska North Slope. When drawing up the execution plan, the company aligned closely with the client’s personnel to meticulously carry out the project objectives and ensure the safety of all involved.

Besides the usual safety concerns such a project would anticipate, personnel had to plan for extreme weather conditions for team members and also the protection of client hardware.

Within the master safety plan, the company prepared several contingencies based on multiple outcomes that ensured the safety of more than 1,000 rig employees, their families and their friends. At the end of the engagement, the company provided the client with an on-time and within budget delivery.

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